The present invention relates to a combination lawn mower blade with removable thatching devices and more particularly to such a blade with thatching devices selectively adjustable to vary the depth of thatching.
In lawn care it is desirable from time to time to rake the grass and/or remove the accumulated thatch therefrom. This can most conveniently be done by utilizing a standard rotary power lawn mower with a raking device. Thus it has been known to provide a thatching device, in the form of a coil spring with a depending tine, which is attached to a rotatable bar or cutting blade. Examples of such structures are shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,338 issued to J. Sherratt on Aug. 21, 1973 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,243 issued to E. A. Knipe on June 22, 1976. With such structures the depth of thatching or raking can be varied by varying the height of the bar or cutting blade relative to the grass. When secured to a cutting blade, the combination will act to both cut the grass and thatch. However as the thatching device and associated tine is raised or lowered the depth of cut by the blade is also similarly changed. With prior structures the length of the tine is fixed and hence the distance between the end of the tine and the cutting blade is fixed. Thus to provide deep raking or thatching the blade will be lowered accordingly but the grass, then, may be cut lower than desirable. With the present invention, the thatching device is a coil member which is provided with a pair of tines extending from opposite ends of the coil body. The tines are of different lengths permitting a selective adjustment in the distance between the end of the working tine and the cutting blade simply by reversing the mounting of the coil member on the blade. This allows an accommodation between the desired depth of thatching and depth of grass cut. The latter feature not only provides flexibility of the combination blade for use with different types of grasses but also accommodates thatching a lawn while cutting it at different heights throughout the growing season.
Also in the present invention the non-working tine is used as a hold down leg for the coil assembly.
Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a unique combination of lawn mower blade and thatching device in which the depth of thatching can be selectively varied relative to the depth of cut of the grass.
It is another general object to provide a unique combination lawn mower blade and thatching device.